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Eternal Sonata
is an original role-playing video game created by Tri-Crescendo. The Xbox 360 version of the game was released on June 14, 2007 in Japan, September 17, 2007 in North America, and October 19, 2007 in Europe. The game was also released on the PlayStation 3 with additional content as on September 18, 2008 and in Europe with the original name ''Eternal Sonata on February 13, 2009. The game is centered on the Polish romantic pianist and composer Frédéric François Chopin, who died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 39. The story envisions a fictional world dreamed by Chopin during his last hours that is influenced by Chopin's life and music, and in which he himself is a playable character, among others. The game features a selection of Chopin's compositions played by pianist Stanislav Bunin, though most of the original compositions were written by Motoi Sakuraba. The game's battle system centers on musical elements and character-unique special attacks. Light and darkness plays a part in the appearance and abilities of enemies on the battlefield, as well as the types of magic that can be cast. Presentation Eternal Sonata follows many general conventions in a typical console role-playing game: the player controls a party of up to twelve characters to explore the world, talking with its inhabitants, buying and selling equipment at shops, and encountering monsters while in the field. These encounters are visible, and the player can opt to avoid the encounter, if possible, as well as gaining an edge on the monsters by approaching them from behind. Experience points are awarded to all members of the party, though at a reduced rate for those not involved in combat, and characters will improve in various statistics with each experience level as well as learning special combat skills. Weapons, armor, and accessories can be used to improve these statistics, which can be purchased through money earned in combat, found in chests, or by selling both equipment and photographs which can be taken by the character Beat during battle. The player may also find Score Pieces scattered about the world, which represent short musical phrases. Various NPCs in the game will offer to perform with the party, requiring the player to match a Score Piece to the phrase offered by the NPC, with the resulting composition being ranked. Discordant matches will result in no reward, but close or perfect matches will gain a bonus item from the NPC. Battle System While the main combat system is turn-based using only 3 characters within the party, it incorporates elements of an action game. Each character's turn is preceded by "Tactical Time", a period of time which the player can use to decide the course of action to take with that character. Once the player initiates an action or "Tactical Time" expires (a function of the Party Class Level), the player then has a limited amount of time denoted by an Action Gauge to move the character, attack the enemy, and use recovery skills or items. Regular attacks are made at melee or ranged distances depending on the weapon choice of the character, and add a small quantity of time back to the Action Gauge, and additionally add to the party's "Echoes" meter. Special skills which can include both offensive attacks and recovery skills will consume whatever Echoes have been generated to that point, and will have a more powerful effect relative to that number. When a character defends against an attack, there is a short period before the attack strikes where the player can press a button to block some of the damage for the attack, or to possibly even counterattack the blow and interrupt the monster's turn. Recovery and other one-time-use items are kept in a common pouch with a limited capacity; the player must "set" items in the pouch so that they can be cycled through and triggered during battle. Light and dark areas on the battle field generated by the time of day, environment, and shadows of the characters and monsters will affect combat. Each party character has one or more special skills that are active in lit areas, and a similar number but with very different effects in a dark area. Monsters themselves may have a dissimilar set of powers in the area of the battlefield they are in, while other monsters will actually change form when they move between lit and dark areas. The player can manipulate the nature of areas using special items, but this can also be affected by the monsters themselves, or through dynamic changes on the battlefield such as the shadow of a cloud moving across the ground. As the player progresses through the game, they will increase their Party Class Level. Each improvement in level grants some bonuses while also imposing additional limits on combat. For example, one Party Class improvement increases the number of slots for special skills for each character, but at the same time, cuts down the amount of Tactical Time and time available in the Action Gauge. Music Eternal Sonata features a large soundtrack, mostly composed by Motoi Sakuraba, with seven of Chopin's compositions performed by Stanislav Bunin and presented in 5.1 surround sound. Featured music of Chopin's include Étude Op. 10, No. 12 (Chopin)|Étude Op. 10, No. 12, Étude Op. 10, No. 3 (Chopin)|Étude Op. 10, No. 3 and Polonaise Op. 53. A Japanese aria composed by Sakuraba titled "Heaven's Mirror" is also performed by Akiko Shinada for the soundtrack. The game's background music was released in Japan as the four-disc album on July 25, 2007 under the King Records label. Playable Characters * : Main protoganist and antogonist, 39 years of age. He is a renowned composer and pianist. * : 14 years of age. Polka has powerful magic abilities, which in turn means that she is doomed to die. * : 16 years of age. A young man standing up to the contradictions of the world. Though Allegretto is poor, he has a good heart. He is a thief who steals bread in order to feed children who are not able to feed themselves. * : 8 years of age. Beat is a young boy who lives with Allegretto in the port city of Ritardando. His greatest treasure is a camera which was given to him by his father. * : A 26-year-old shepherd the party meets in the countryside. She's a tough-talker and can handle herself, being slightly older than the others in the party. She has a pet named Arco who tags along with the group. * : An 8-year-old guardian of the Agogo Forest with her sister. The party meets her when they were imprisoned in the Forte Castle dungeons. Salsa views hats as the best treasure in the world. * : The other guardian of the Agogo Forest; Salsa's twin sister. She tends to be the more reasonable one of the two, making her a sharp contrast to Salsa. March appears to be mature and gentle. * : Jazz is 27 years old, leader of the revolutionary group Andantino. Quiet and serious, he worries about the damage Count Waltz might be doing to the people with the mineral powder and the processes needed to mine it. * : Jazz's lieutenant in Andantino, she's perceptive and tough, and inwardly dislikes Claves. Falsetto is 22 years old and has known Jazz since childhood. * : Jazz's 24-year-old girlfriend and another soldier of Andantino. * : The young prince of Baroque. Crescendo replaces his father for leading Baroque into the future war between Forte due to a sickness his father is suffering on. He rescues Polka, Beat, Frederic, and Salsa after they fell into Adagio River. Crescendo is only playable in the PS3 version. * : The fiancee of Prince Crescendo. Serenade is only playable in the PS3 version. Plot The game for the most part takes place within the dream world of Chopin, with brief segments in the real world to report on Chopin's status. The story is divided into eight chapters, with each chapter being represented by one of Chopin's compositions, and being related to events within his historical life. The story begins with a small group of characters coming together, wishing to meet with Count Waltz of Forte regarding the use of the harmful medication mineral powder, but eventually evolves into a far-reaching tale dealing with political espionage and rebellion. Escapism is also a large theme in the game, one dealt with explicitly in the ending. The story begins with Chopin in his deathbed in Paris, France in 1849. It is only hours before his death. In his unconscious state, he finds himself in a fantastical dream world, where he meets a girl named Polka. In this world, people who are terminally ill are able to use magic; Polka is one of these people, as well as Chopin. Aware that he is dreaming, Chopin decides to accompany Polka on her journey to Forte, where she intends to ask Count Waltz about the uses of the cheap mineral powder as compared to more expensive floral powder. As the two of them travel and encounter other characters on the way to Forte, it becomes more and more clear that mineral powder actually has fatal side effects, and that the mining of Mt. Rock to acquire it is causing huge damages to the nearby Agogo Forest. A separate, underground rebellion group Andantino also seeks to oppose Count Waltz and his wrongdoing; it appears that Count Waltz is using the victims of mineral powder to create an army of magic-users in an insurrection against the nation of Baroque . On the way to Forte, Polka and her party are arrested and imprisoned in Forte dungeon; the group was mistaken as being Andantino, and the soldiers had been alerted that the rebellion group would be arriving that day. Shortly after escaping, the party unites with the real Andantino and leave the city of Forte. On their way out of Fort Fermata (a short walk from Forte), Count Waltz's henchman Tuba spots them and a battle commences; in his defeat, Tuba destroys the bridge and the party is swept away by the Fusion River. The party has now been split in two; one half travels through the Adagio Swamp and poisonous Woodblock Groves to Andante, the underground city of Andantino. The other half of the party were saved by Prince Crescendo of Baroque and taken upon his ship. On the way to Baroque they encounter the dreaded Pirate Ship Dolce, but are able to defeat them. After getting safely into Baroque, the party discuss the situation. Forte is threatening a war, but Crescendo wants maintain peace at all costs. The Prince considers a plan to assassinate Count Waltz of Forte, but the plan is quickly discarded at the insistance of his wife, Princess Serenade. In the PlayStation 3 version, the party in Baroque (along with Prince Crescendo and Princess Serenade) are then accidentally warped into the Lament Mirror. As they try to find each other and escape, the party discovers the history of Baroque and Forte; the two cities were once in a similar situation of a threatening all-scale war. Both halves of the party finally return to Ritardando to reunite. The full party then heads for Baroque and decides to explore Aria Temple, where they uncover a part of the mystery. When the party returns to Baroque, they find Crescendo and Serenade missing. It is discovered that they left for Forte to turn themselves in, in an effort to prevent the war. The party heads for Forte by way of Mount Rock, where they encounter Crescendo, Serenade and subsequently Count Waltz. They do battle, but when Count Waltz is in danger of being defeated, he gives his henchman Legato a potion, which turns him into a gigantic monster. Legato then rips a portal through time and space and disappears with Waltz. Realizing that the entire world is now at stake, the party follows them to the city of the dead, Elegy Of The Moon, where souls lost to the mineral powder dwell. The party advances past Xylophone Tower and the Noise Dunes to Double Reed Tower, where Legato has opened another portal. In the world between worlds, the party defeats them; the portal begins to collapse and the party emerges in the flower fields near Polka's home; the forest has been completely destroyed and burned away. This is too much for Chopin; during the entire journey, he has been questioning his place in the dream world, whether it is a dream or actually real, whether he should care about his friends or regard them as only figments of his imagination. Upon arriving in the destroyed fields where his traveling had begun, Chopin declares them all to be nothing but dreams, and that he must battle them to complete his destiny and finally die. Chopin is defeated, and Polka finally realizes that the world was simply a dream repeating itself; she throws herself from the cliff and is reborn, younger, and is able to break the cycle; returning to the mountain where the rest of the party waits, she embraces Alegretto; the world floods with color and is restored. Finally, back in the real world, Chopin dies; his spirit rises out of his body and he sits down at the piano; the room around him transforms into the flower fields near Polka's home, and he plays his final composition, "Heaven's Mirror." Development Says director Hiroya Hatsushiba. ::"People who play games and people who love classical music are not necessarily sharing the same type of interests. Most people in Japan know the name of Chopin; however, most of the people who know of Chopin think he is just some kind of a great music composer without knowing any more about him. Most of them have heard Chopin's music but not a lot could put his name to it immediately. By creating a colorful fantasy world in Chopin's dream, I was hoping that people would get into this game easily and also come to know how great Chopin's music is." For the localization, the game's text was proofread by the Frederick Chopin Society in Warsaw. The localization team wanted to be as historically accurate as possible, without losing the original message of the script On April 23, 2007, the ESRB posted their rating for Eternal Sonata listing the game as being intended for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, when news of this quickly spread, the ESRB removed the listing entirely. On September 11, 2007, Bandai Namco's official site listed Eternal Sonata as coming soon to PlayStation 3, yet also listed the Xbox 360 version as being "available now". Again, as news quickly spread, the information was removed. The following day, scans from Famitsu were released, confirming the game as being released for the PlayStation 3. On September 14, 2007 Bandai Namco officially announced Eternal Sonata was coming to the PS3, during Spring 2008 in Japan. As Namco Bandai had stated, there are features exclusive for the PlayStation 3 version. This includes new playable characters, Crescendo and Serenade, who played a major role in the plot of the game, but were not playable in the Xbox 360 version. It will also include a new clothing system, in which the player can freely change a few characters' costumes. The other extras are the two dungeons, Lament Mirror and Church of EZI. The former of which is compulsory. It also adds a number of new cutscenes and greatly alters or expands a number of already existing cutscenes. Among the changes made are an expanded focus on the developing romance between Allegretto and Polka, as well as a more detailed exlpanation of the plot involving the glowing agogos. Cover Gallery Image:360_Jap.jpg|Xbox 360 (Japan) Image:360_NA.jpg|Xbox 360 (NA) Image:PS2_Jap.jpg|Playstation 3 (Japan) Image:PS3_NA.jpg|Playstation 3 (NA) Category: Eternal Sonata